The integration of biochemical assays onto solid substrates has revolutionized the analysis of biological samples, and has proven important in experimental cell biology as well as in a variety of applications including drug discovery and clinical diagnostics. The gene chip, which is based on patterned arrays of oligonucleotides, is the most developed example and enables the high-throughput analysis of gene expression. The successful implementation of the gene chip has in turn motivated the development of a range of other biochips, including cell chips and protein chips.
A protein chip, proteins immobilized in arrays on a substrate, would overcome many of the limitations of current technology used in protein analysis. An array of this type could give direct information on the interactions of proteins and the activities of enzymes, and would significantly extend the ability to characterize and understand molecular pathways within cells.
The development of functional protein chips has proven more difficult than the development of the gene chip. Proteins typically adsorb nonspecifically to the surfaces of most synthetic materials, with only a fraction properly oriented for interacting with proteins in a contacting solution. The adsorbed proteins tend to denature to varying degrees, resulting in a loss of activity. Also, adsorbed proteins can be displaced by other proteins in a contacting solution, leading to a loss of activity on the chip and an unacceptable level of background signal.
To avoid this problematic displacement during use, proteins can be immobilized onto solid supports by simple chemical reactions, including the condensation of amines with carboxylic acids and the formation of disulfides.
This covalent immobilization of proteins on inert substrates can prevent high background signals due to non-specific adsorption. Proteins immobilized by this approach are still subject to denaturation, however. The chemical coupling approach is also typically limited by a lack of selectivity.
Many natural proteins have been prepared using recombinant techniques, as fusions of the natural protein and another polypeptide. The polypeptide is used as a handle for purification, followed by cleavage of the polypeptide from the fusion. For example, a protein can be expressed with a pendant chain of six histidine units. These His-tag proteins can coordinate with Ni(II) complexes, so that they can be immobilized on a surface and purified from other cell constituents. Fusions of proteins with glutathione-S-transferase (GST), an enzyme, have also been used; GST-fusion polypeptides may be applied to sepharose columns modified with glutathione peptides, to purify the proteins. These methods are effective because the fusion polypeptide binds selectively to the ligands of the column. These interactions cannot be used to assemble protein chips because the binding affinities of the fusion polypeptides for the ligands are low and would lead to a loss of protein from the substrate.
There is a thus a need for biochemical strategies that can selectively immobilize proteins to a surface with absolute control over orientation and density while maintaining the activity of the protein. Rapid and irreversible immobilization techniques would provide convenient production of the modified surfaces while ensuring their long-term stability. It is especially desirable that these strategies not require synthetic modification or purification of the proteins prior to immobilization, and further that the strategies can be used for most proteins of interest.